Driverless vehichles

Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by the machinist, Jan 11, 2014.

  1. the machinist

    the machinist Bobtail Member

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    I was thinking about getting into trucking,I got class a.
    Then I saw a show on science channel.
    It had a Google engineer on there who came up with a driverless car.
    The car went out on the road and worked flawlessly,it merged and drove in the city.
    Do you think trucking companies are taking note of this?
     
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  3. ethos

    ethos Road Train Member

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    That's one car, heavily maintained and monitored. Try mass producing it.
     
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  4. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    driverless cars have been around for a while, long before google. The problem is why would you even want them on the road?

    they can not think like a human with infinite amount of situations a drive goes through in just a few minutes of driving in traffic and with what half the country went through just this past week, could they even be useful?
     
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  5. ethos

    ethos Road Train Member

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    If you're talking about the weather this week then good point. The road salt alone covers everything and sensors start having problems. I haven't had on guard for 2 days.
     
  6. Richter

    Richter Road Train Member

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    I bet in 10 years or less there will be driver less trucks. That being said, they will still need drivers to monitor the driverless system. They still need you to back into tight spots. Strap down the load. Pretrip the truck etc.
     
  7. Flightline

    Flightline Road Train Member

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    They been trying to market driverless cars for about 20 years now. The biggest problem is the insurance companies won't touch it.

    And I doubt we'll ever see it in trucking as like Richter said, driver is needed for so many other things, they are not going to take the responsibility away from the truck driver when he has to be there anyway.

    Now there is forward warning devices and lane movement warning devices already in most new trucks. And black boxes have been recording how a driver drives for the last ten years.
    Even in Avaiation, auto pilot is still not allowed for take offs and landings, though the computer has the ability probably better than humans. Some one has to be in command and take the responsibility
     
  8. Wolfyinc

    Wolfyinc Road Train Member

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    I can see some of the technology eventually coming into play but like people said we will always need someone close by, the trucks cant fuel on their own either, only way I could see that working is if fuel attendants are placed at every truck stop to do it for the truck.

    Do very many trucks even have lane assist and warning devices? One thing I think would benefit trucks would be a reverse camera, maybe it might reduce some of the backing accidents by the drivers out there who are too lazy or ####y to goal.
     
  9. wyldhorses

    wyldhorses Medium Load Member

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    Driverless trucks. Self check outs. Robot nurses. 3 d printing. Soon humans won't be able to get ANY job cause there won't be any it will all be technology. Then the govt will just supply everyone with an income of say 35, 000 a year to keep the populace happy. I'll probably be dead before this happens, but it is going to come to that you can be sure.
     
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  10. Blue02celi

    Blue02celi Road Train Member

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    you might as well just wait until they are able to teleport items directly from one point to the other if we're gonna start worrying about these trucks driving themselves over the road ^.^ and well I don't think thats gonna happen in any time frame that I would have to worry about it
     
  11. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    I drove a truck a few weeks back with lane departure unit and I had to disconnect it, it was driving me nuts. The idiots who put the lines down went all over the road and it wasn't consistent enough for the unit to work right - it looked like that gave chimps a paint brush and let them paint the lines on the road.

    But seriously, the what is the purpose of having people sit in a car and have the car drive itself. Unless we equip ever car on the road with the same technology, then that would work but until then, it isn't even worth it. The same goes for trucks, imagine having a truck loaded with 40k load and someone cuts it off and slows to make a turn, a human can predict that from experience by the action of the driver but a computer has to have a lot of data to make that prediction and then act on the possibility of having that car cut the truck off and slow down, I am betting that it would run into the car.
     
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